Now
by Lady Henrietta
Summary: Season 3 Oneshot: An evening discussion leads Roslin and Adama to new conclusions. AR


Disclaimer: Battlestar Galactica belongs to Ronald D. Moore and the Sci-Fi channel. Speculation on what could happen after the episode, "A Day in the Life Of." "I Am Yours" is by Tracey Chapman. Lyrics are in_ italics_. This was also inspired by a montage by curlyj76 that used the song.

Now

Roslin knew that Adama had been stewing all day over something. She was well aware that the rescue efforts made to help Chief Tyrol and Cally had taken their toll on the admiral, but her instincts told her that it was something else. It had been a long day for her too and she decided to bring over a bottle of the orange stuff. Knocking on the hatch, she waited patiently. After a while, he answered his door. "Madame President, can I help you with something?" he offered politely.

Though his voice sounded welcoming, his eyes told her that he was not really in the mood for visitors. She lifted up the bottle she had brought. "Why don't we talk?" she offered.

He sighed and let her in, closing the hatch behind her. "Who told you?" he probed.

_When all my hopes and dreams  
Have been betrayed  
I stand before you  
My hands are empty_

_I am yours  
If you are mine_

She set the bottle on the coffee table and took a seat on his couch, removing her glasses. "No one told me anything. I know you well enough to see that something's been bothering you all day. If it's something that I should know or that I can help you will, then please tell me."

_I am yours  
If you are mine_

He saw the genuine concern in her eyes and retrieved two glasses. "It's nothing like that," he paused to pour their drinks. "It's pretty stupid really. Today would've been my twenty-ninth anniversary with Caroline. It doesn't make sense that I should be thinking much on it because first of all, we were divorced, and second, she's dead now."

_When I fall and stumble  
Flat on my face  
When I'm shamed and humbled  
In disgrace_

_I am yours  
If you are mine_

They both drank a little and then she faced him. "Bill, it's not stupid. It's called regretting things. Do you know that I celebrate Billy's birthday? His death was too soon and in the wrong way. We do strange things like that because we miss people. Moving on isn't really a good term for what happens over time."

"You've got that right," he added, setting his glasses down on the coffee table next to hers.

_I am yours  
If you are mine_

"It's more like you learn to cope with what you've been through, good and bad. It's wounds and scars. They might not hurt anymore, but they're still very present," she explained.

He stood and retrieved a photograph from his bookcase. "This is her," he stated, handing Roslin the picture.

The blonde woman looking back was pretty enough, but Roslin was strangely reminded of Ellen Tigh. For a split second, she wondered if Adama had ever been interested in Ellen. She did not notice him raising an eyebrow at the unhidden look of disgust that she was directing toward the picture. Glancing at the picture again, she handed it back to him.

"What is it with Adama men and blondes?" she goaded him.

He let a wry grin slip through his melancholy mood as he returned the picture to its place on the shelf. "Good question, considering it's usually blondes that get us in trouble and complicate things."

Roslin surmised that he was thinking of the situation between Lee and Kara. President or not, she would have been blind not to see the looks those two had been dealing each other. She took another gulp of her drink before he sat down on the couch again.

"Since blondes get you into trouble, maybe you need a red-head to get you out," she suggested with a glint of mischief in her eyes.

Smirking, he dealt her a curious look. "Oh? And what would you suggest?"

She paused and took a deep breath. "That you embrace second chances," she finally said with a smile.

"What do you mean?" he inquired, thinking briefly of the events surrounding their trip to Kobol.

_When voices call me  
To question my faith  
When misperception  
Taints my love with hate_

_I am yours  
If you are mine_

"We've been given a second chance," she began. Realizing the implications of what she had just said, she attempted to amend it. "You were shot and almost died, I had cancer. The human race has been given a second chance, and a third chance after the attack on Caprica and then the invasion of New Caprica. One thing all this has taught me to do is to live life in the now instead of milling over regrets," she continued. From way he was watching her by the end of her oration, she wondered if he was still listening.

_I am yours  
If you are mine_

He had actually only been listening half-heartedly after she had said 'we've been given a second chance.' The woman sitting beside him had gotten him into far more trouble than any blonde could have, perhaps with the exception of Ellen Tigh. Yet as she sat with him, nothing else mattered. Having tuned her words out completely in order to better study her, he set his empty glass down. Joining his left hand with his right, he removed his wedding ring and set it down on the coffee table next to his glass with a slight clunk.

She raised an eyebrow and he spoke, taking her free hand in both of his. "When we were on New Caprica watching the stars, you talked about embracing the now. I didn't fully understand it then," he paused and looked down, fingering her hand. Then he faced her again and continued. "I think I do now. The past must be learned from and honored, but not lived in because it's no longer there. The future is always going to be one big question mark. But you and I have now."

_When time decides  
It won't stop for me  
When the hawks and vultures  
Are circling_

_I am yours  
If you are mine_

Only able to smile at him, she took a second to ponder the man in front of her. Why had she really come tonight? It was because she needed to know what was bothering him, and if she could make it better. It was because he mattered to her, a great deal actually.

She allowed herself to think back to that night under the stars on New Caprica. As they had talked, she remembered wishing that he would just kiss her, that they could be something more than friends, that perhaps he would move down on the planet to be with her. But now, here he was, right in front of her, trying to do just that. Suddenly she realized that she had tuned him out after hearing 'you and I have now,' just as he had tuned her out.

_I am yours  
If you are mine_

He knew it too as he watched her place her glass on the table next to his. He let one of his hands linger on her hand while the other one traveled to her face to slide under her chin. They shared a familiar smile and he leaned closer.

Then he kissed her as he had when she had been sick, softly and gently. Both opened their eyes and he saw his own emotions reflected back. Their lips met again, this time with the intensity that they shared. Her hands ended up on his chest and his arms wrapped around her back as they kissed passionately.

The future would always be a complicated question, and the past could not be forgotten, but that night they learned what it was to live life in the present. They rested their foreheads together, breaking apart only to breath. Each saw the love reflected in the other's eyes and a silent understanding was acknowledged, that she was his and he was hers.

Fin.


End file.
